Curt Liebmann
Curt Liebmann (born January 29, 1881 in Coburg , † July 2, 1960 in Holzminden ) was a German infantry general in World War II . The Liebmann record is named after him.
Life
Curt was the son of the Prussian major general Konrad Liebmann (1846–1917).
After visiting the cadet corps , Liebmann was transferred on March 20, 1899 as a lieutenant to the 2nd Nassau Infantry Regiment No. 88 of the Prussian Army in Mainz . In 1901 he was transferred to the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Fusilier Regiment "Kaiser Wilhelm" No. 90 in Rostock . From 1906 to 1909 he studied at the War Academy and from 1910 to 1913 he was a captain on the General Staff . During the First World War , Liebmann served in various general staff assignments and, among other things, took part in the Battle of Tannenberg at "Division Unger" at the end of August 1914 . In addition to both classes of the Iron Cross , Liebmann received the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords, the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Frederick Order and the Duke of Saxony-Ernestine House Order with Swords, the Hanseatic Cross of the City of Hamburg, the Austrian Military Merit Cross III for his work . Class with the war decoration, the Iron Crescent and the Knight's Cross IV. Class, I level of the Bulgarian Military Order for Valor .
After the war, Liebmann was accepted into the Reichswehr and initially used in the Reichswehr Ministry. At the beginning of 1922 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and from April 1st led the 2nd Battalion in the 1st (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Tilsit . After two years he was transferred back to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin, where he took over from Colonel Friedrich von Boetticher (1881-1967) the management of the Foreign Armies department, which was run under the code name Statistical Department T 3 within the Troop Office . His area of work was assigned to both the "defense" under Friedrich Gempp (1871-1947) and the management of the military attachés at the German embassies / legations. On February 1, he was promoted to colonel. When the first publications about the department's involvement in secret armaments projects and the machinations of the head of the maritime transport department Walter Lohmann (1878–1930) came to light in August of the following year , there was an enormous danger for the mostly conspiratorial work and the assignment of the foreign department Armies regarding covert information gathering. Initial cover-ups of the actual activities, initial changes in staff and restructuring did not improve the situation. On March 1, 1928 Liebmann was replaced as head of department and replaced by Colonel Erich Kühlenthal (1880-1958). He took over command of the 5th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Stettin , where he was promoted to major general in 1929. This was followed by several months as Chief of the General Staff of Group Command 2 in Kassel and finally in 1931 he was appointed Commander of the 5th Division and Commander in Military District V (Stuttgart) , combined with promotion to Lieutenant General . Liebmann thus belonged to the close leadership of the Reichswehr. After the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg and Hitler's appointment as Supreme Commander of the Reichswehr in the summer of 1934, Liebmann, who was considered conservative, was reassigned to the Reichswehr Ministry on August 1, 1934, with the aim of preparing for an important assignment. Presumably this did not come about because of the crisis that had been smoldering since mid-1933 between the leadership of the NSDAP and the Reichswehr leadership. It was not used for over a year.
It was not until October 1, 1935, that Liebmann was promoted to General of the Infantry as the first commander of the Army War Academy in Berlin, which was now officially operating again. He worked here until the spring of 1939, when he was retired on April 30 at the age of 58. With the start of mobilization on the occasion of the Second World War on August 25, 1939, Liebmann was reactivated and appointed Commander in Chief of the 5th Army , which was stationed on the Siegfried Line as part of Army Group C of Colonel General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb . But shortly after the end of the attack on Poland , he was released from this command, allegedly at his own request, and replaced by Colonel General Walter von Reichenau, who was loyal to the leader . Liebmann spent the remainder of the war formally in the Führerreserve , but without being used again. After the end of the war in 1945 he was taken prisoner by the British , from which he was released in 1947.
Liebmann died on July 2, 1960 in Holzminden.
Liebmann record
On February 3, 1933, four days after his appointment as Reich Chancellor , Adolf Hitler was invited to give a speech to the leadership of the Reichswehr at a commanders' meeting. At this meeting in the official apartment of the chief of the Army High Command , General of the Infantry Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord , Hitler spoke about his medium- and long-term goals. The seven military district commanders were present, including Liebmann, who made handwritten notes as usual. The original personal notes of Liebmann are now in the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich. They contain notes from commanders' meetings from 1930 to 1935 as well as his personal memories. The institute first published the notes on Hitler's speech on February 3, 1933, in 1954 in the Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. They are kept relatively brief and only reflect the most important points of Hitler's speech.
literature
- Dermot Bradley (ed.), Markus Brockmann, Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 7: Knabe-Luz. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2004, p. 517f.
Web links
- Literature by and about Curt Liebmann in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1924, p. 108.
- ↑ Ernst Schneller: The Phöbus Scandal. The international edition 11, issue 7 of April 1, 1928, p. 193ff; Walter Kreiser: Windy things from aviation. The world stage No. 11, 1929
- ^ Friedrich Gempp: Secret intelligence service and counter-espionage of the army. Memorandum, In: BA MA Freiburg
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Liebmann, Curt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German infantry general in World War II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 29, 1881 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Coburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 2nd, 1960 |
| Place of death | Holzminden |